UEL | Atalanta 0-1 Liverpool: Gasp knocks Klopp out

Originally posted on Football Italia | By Susy Campanale | Last updated 4/18/24

Atalanta lost 1-0 on the night to a Mohamed Salah penalty, but knocked Liverpool out to reach their first Europa League semi-finals, 3-1 on aggregate.

The huge 3-0 first leg triumph at Anfield gave La Dea the advantage and although Giorgio Scalvini was still out, Sead Kolasinac returned from injury. Jurgen Klopp made the trip without Stefan Bajcetic, Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip, Conor Bradley and Ben Doak, but simply had to go all-out attack with Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz together.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was a nightmare start for the hosts, as Matteo Ruggeri charged down a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross with his arm just inside the penalty area. Mohamed Salah sent Juan Musso the wrong way to convert and give Liverpool an early lead.

The Reds kept pushing, Musso rushing off his line to deny Luis Diaz and Szoboszlai testing the goalkeeper from distance, but when Alisson Becker made a stunning save to prevent an own goal, the offside flag was already up.

Aleksei Miranchuk forced Alisson to rush out with a heavy touch, then flashed an angled drive across the face of goal, while Berat Djimsiti made a decisive tackle to stop Salah going clear and then the Egyptian got his lob all wrong from a Gakpo assist.

Teun Koopmeiners had the ball in the net on 41 minutes, but only after the offside flag had gone up.

Isak Hien was booked for handling a long ball over the top with Diaz clear, though Liverpool wanted a red card for stopping a clear scoring opportunity.

Ederson scuffed into the arms of Alisson after a promising move, with Teun Koopmeiners and Davide Zappacosta doing the same, as Atalanta started to make the most of the spaces left as Liverpool attacked.

Zappacosta turned Robertson with a cheeky flick and sprinted forward to set up Scamacca, who ballooned over the bar. It proved enough to secure their first UEFA semi-final since the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1988.

Liverpool are out of the #UEL!

They win 1-0 on the night but Atalanta take the tie 3-1 overall! pic.twitter.com/O4aHkMdWcg

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2024

Atalanta 0-1 Liverpool (3-1 agg)

Salah pen 7 (L)

18-04-2024 20:00 1/4 Final Gewiss Stadium (Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia)

Atalanta

Liverpool 0 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

Mohamed Salah Isak Hien 43' 43' Luis Díaz 2nd half

Teun Koopmeiners		77'
Davide Zappacosta

90+1'

Match statistic

30 Possession % 70 8 Total shots 10 2 Shots on target 5 4 Shots off target 3 2 Blocked shots 2 2 Corners 1 5 Offsides 1 14 Fouls 10 Atalanta Liverpool